Web Design

The basic elements and principles involved in web design are true for all other types of design. These principles will show you the most effective way to put together the various design elements to come up with a good and effective site. A good company emphasizes the fact that web design is not simply about slapping all those HTML tags on the page, but it involves the use of principles to build a pleasing and useful design. Your company will need you to make the most aesthetically attractive and effective web design, so make sure you keep these elements in mind:

Balance:

Web design Balance is the equal distribution of the heavy and light elements on a singly page. Balance in your web design is concentrated in your page layout. You must achieve visual balance in your web design all throughout the page, not only in the initial view. You web design company might commonly suggest you to center the text and all the other elements on your page. It is also very common to set your page on an invisible grid system to create the balance that you need. There are three types of balance that can be achieved when designing a page.

• Symmetrical. This is achieved by placing all the elements in an even fashion – a heavy element on the left is matched with another on the right. Be careful with symmetrical balances as you do not want your site to look flat or plain boring.
• Asymmetrical. These are more challenging to build, but there are strategies to achieve this which can include the varying texture, color and image positioning and size to arrive at a pleasant looking page.
• Discordant. Symmetrical. Web sites that are off-balance suggest action or motion, so you can create a discordant design on purpose. This type of designs make viewers uncomfortable or uneasy, so they are best used for sites that are intended to make people think.

Contrast:

Web design contrast is more than just about colors and black or white, but also involves contrasting shapes, sizes and even textures. You can take full advantage of contrast by changing font size, weight and family to provide textual contrast and varying sizes of images and elements. However, be careful not to blast your readers or scare them off with contrasting colors which are way too loud. The links on your content should be contrasted well to draw most attention.

Emphasis:

Web design emphasis involves the main points where the eye is drawn into in a design. One of the mistakes that your web design company may warn you not to make is to have everything in the design stand out. Keep in mind that if everything in the design has equal emphasis, the entire page will tend to appear too busy for comfort and may end up unappealing. What you should focus on instead is to create a visual hierarchy in the web design – to put emphasis only on the right elements. You can use semantic markup to provide emphasis even without the use of styles; change the font size of image size in order to emphasis or lessen emphasis on them; or you can use contrast in colors for added emphasis.

Rhythm:

Web design rhythm, also known as repetition, brings the much needed internal consistency into your web site designs. Almost all elements in your design can be repeated in order to create pleasing rhythm into your design. For instance, you can repeat your headline a few times for more emphasis, repeat the same image across the page, create a background that is tiled and patterned with repetitive elements, or repeat a particular style to provide site design consistency. It is also a good idea to repeat the navigation elements in your site design across the pages of your web site.

Unity:

Web design unity, also regarded as a site’s proximity, is the what keeps all the similar elements in the site alike and those diverse further apart, and pulls everything together into one integrated whole. Unity when it comes to web site design is mainly achieved through the proper placement in your layout. You can implement this in many ways. You can, for example, adjust the layout of your elements to put them close or far away from each other. In the body of your page, you can change the spacing around the text in your page contents. You can further achieve unity by playing around the box properties and change the margins and paddings.

A good web design company keeps in mind all the basic design elements with each and every page they design and collaborate with. This way, you and your web design company will come up with web sites that are pleasant looking, effective and attractive. As the web designer, it is important that you keep these elements in mind and apply them appropriately to your page web design.

The web design industry is one of the most competitive and securing sales for new web design solutions is not easy. But do not despair. First, there is plenty of demand for web design work. With the advent of Web 2.0 and now Web 3.0, the market is almost boiling over. Everybody wants to get their ideas online, everybody wants to sell online and everybody is looking for a web site. If you have a good web design portfolio, a decent customer base and a competitive pricing structure you have a decent chance of getting your fair share of the web design market. Assuming you got all the right ingredients, all you need is a good pitch or a method of presenting your assets to potential web design clients.

The best pitch starts with understanding your web design client’s needs. So start by asking a few questions and then listen and listen again. Your first task before even thinking about the web design is to get a good knowledge of what your client’s business is about, where his leads are coming from and what his expectations and objectives are. Asking the correct questions and listening to your client will earn you respect from the outset. Hardcore salesman suffering from verbal diarrhoea works less and less today. People are sick of cold calling and salesmen pushing products and services down our throats. We have all succumbed to a salesman and vowed never to be caught again. So listen, ask a few questions, understand, analyse before you start putting your web design stuff across.

Once you have a basic understanding of the client’s needs you may start explaining what you do and how your experience, web design skills can help you deliver a web design solution that will meet your client’s need. Remember to answer a need in whatever you say. Avoid too much small talk about your personal experiences that have nothing to do with the client’s needs, let alone web design. Socialising is good but at the end of the day, if it’s a first time client, stick to the purpose of your meeting and talk about the web design solution.

Once you have built your credentials about your web design services briefly, ask a few more questions, break the monologue, involve the client, hear his point of view, give him or her a chance to speak. Get a feel for what the web design client likes about your web design services, your web design portfolio and any web site in particular that your client likes. Make a good note of this. Do not write too much to the extent of losing eye contact or the attention of your client. Do not rush either, unless the client needs to get off in a hurry.

By now you should have a fair idea about your client’s business, his or her objectives, the web designs they like, the colours they prefer, what they like and dislike about some web designs. Make a note again. You are now ready to make your pitch and propose a web design solution that you think will work in the circumstances. Use your knowledge, your past web design experience of what works best and what does not. Refer to your web design portfolio.

If you know what you are talking about, your web design competences and customer relations skills will come across loud and clear and your web design client will be impressed. The next thing your client will want to know is pricing information and delivery. If you are sure about the costs involved and you are able to quote for the web design project then and there, do it. Beat the iron whilst it’s hot. At least you have a chance to gauge the client’s reaction to your price then and there and you can always negotiate the web design project instantly. If you can close the deal, so much the better, do it and get a cheque if you can. However, if web design the project is complex and tricky, you may need to go away and work out a price. Do this as soon as you can. Some people are genuinely very keen during a meeting but soon the zeal cools down and they change their minds.

Be sure you tell the client about any reservations you have or any special web design terms and conditions from the outset. The terms of payment are as important as the price. Putting these tricky issues across from the outset is much easier during a face to face meeting rather than later on when they might come as surprises. Be honest, say what you have to say and warn the client. He or she will thank and trust you for it.

It is generally rare to lose a web design deal if you have travelled to the client, explained what you do and negotiated the price. Most clients are glad you visited them and made your web design pitch. Of course you might lose a few despite the best pitch in the world but do not despair. Hard work, honesty and competence always pays overall.